Good evening and welcome to the Township of Clark Council meeting. It's Monday, August 3rd, 7:30 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hop here. Council member Hund >> here. >> Council member Maserella >> here. >> Council member Maniti >> here. >> Council member Okconor >> here. >> Council member Tol here.
>> Council President Smith >> here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. This meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL1975 as adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of meetings to the star ledger the leader and union county local source
by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board and town hall reserved for such announcements the official website of the townshipclark.com in compliance with PL 2025, chapter 72, effective March 1st, 2026, and the
proper filing of said notice, formal action may be taken at this meeting. >> Thank you. We're going to move on to communications from the mayor, Mayor Albanese. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening, everyone. Uh, let me start out by saying I hope everyone is having a are enjoying
their summer and I try to stretch it out as long as possible. Uh thanks to our recreation staff, our pool staff, our staff at the library for making this summer so much fun all around. And also a shout out to our DPW
staff who have tires tirelessly been picking up branches. Um more branches than you can ever imagine. I feel like I look out in my yard and I see more branches that have fallen down, need to be hauled out. At our last meeting, we tabled an
ordinance uh related to curfews. And on Thursday, July 30th, the township issued a second statement to explain the council agenda process. And to be clear, an ordinance that has been advertised and listed on the
meeting agenda can be removed from the agenda by tableabling the matter at any meeting. In this specific case, the township will continue to address issues that arise and apply targeted enforcement strategies as noted.
This uh this time I'd like to summarize the items on tonight's council agenda. Uh tonight we have two ordinances were introduced at the last meeting that are up for hearing. Uh the first one increases the number of handicap parking spaces over at the recreation center.
And we we commonly call it the recreation center area of the building, but in truth it's the recreation center and the senior center. We have a senior fitness center and we have many meetings and senior activities that go on. Various seniors have requested that
additional spots be added. This ordinance will bring us a total of eight handicapped spaces to address this need. Tonight the citizens will be able to speak at the hearing on this ordinance. Ordinance 26-25
is also uh is also going to have its hearing. Uh it was introduced on July 20th and this ordinance pro prohibits uh drinking alcohol uh alcoholic beverages in open containers in public places. Apparently it's been an issue recently.
So we are adding that to our ordinances. Moving on to the consent agenda. The first one is to award a a contract uh of the Capitol Road improvements. It's being awarded to DLS Contracting, Inc.
Um we had nine um contractors uh pull uh the paperwork for bids. We received seven back. The engineer reviewed the bids for compliance. Uh the lowest britter is the one that I mentioned and the total cost will be $500,435.
Uh resolution 26192. Um this relates to the appointment of special legal counsel to defend the township in the matter of Matthew Platkin, Attorney General of New Jersey, and Yolanda Melville, director of the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights. You
may recall we received this um matter in January of 2026. Uh it's versus the township of Clark, other individuals including an employee. So we had an attorney assigned in a law firm. Michael Robertson was a lead
counsel uh from the firm Ulo and um congratulations to him. companies decided to uh take an appointment at the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. Therefore, we are soliciting requests for proposals under the local public
contract law using a fair and open process. The RFP was posted on July 30th and the responses will be opened on August 11th at 11:00 a.m. for those interested. Resolution 26193 is an application for a
grant u from Union County Kids Recreation Trust Fund Grant. We are in dire need of renovation to our Little League restroom facilities and this uh grant we hope will cover 50% of the costs to improve the bathrooms. The
total project is $56,900. So we're hoping to get a grant for $28,450. And this um money these monies will be used to include new plumbing, flooring, wall tile, partitions, fixtures, lighting, and accessibility
improvements. The the bathrooms right now are over 60 years old. Resolution 26194 is another grant for greening Union County tree program. So, we'd like to plant 20 trees, 20 maple trees, um, red maple trees, um, sorry,
20 trees, 10 would be red maple, and 10 would be silver maple. And this would be done during the 2027 fall planting cycle. Um, the total cost is $6,500. And, um, we're asking for 50% of that,
which would be 3,250. Resolution 26195 supports two bills uh in the in the U. Assembly uh legislature, I should say, New Jersey Senate Bill 4443 and Assembly
Bill 5276. And the purpose is to clarify overtime compensation requirements for certain public employees who engage in law enforcement and fire protection activities. So, the legislation is intended to clarify that municipalities
can continue to utilize the overtime calculations uh that are set out in section 207K of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is a federal law. And this clarification is intended to address uncertainty created when uh certain
amendments were made to the New Jersey wage in Hour Law enacted in 2019 and to confirm that those amendments were not intended to alter the longstanding overtime framework that has been used um applicable to municipal police officers
and firefighters. So hope that the council will um uh approve this and express our support to the legislature slature to pass the New Jersey Senate Bill 4443 and Assembly
Bill 5276. Resolution 126196 is a refund for an overpayment of a raffle license for $340. Resolution 26197 authorizes the tax collector to apply a
sewer account balance adjustment for an error in a calculation totaling $3,225. And resolution 126198 is the approval of the bill list totaling $150,9921
from various township funds. That concludes my summary. Right. >> Thank you for the summary. >> All right, Madame Clerk, we can move on to ordinances, appropriations, and claims and the public hearings on ordinances. Ordinance 2624, an ordinance
to amend chapter 347, section 347-55 of the code of the township of Clark regulating parking entitled municipal parking lots and board of education property to increase the number of handicap parking spots in the parking lot at the municipal building from four
to eight spaces. >> At this time, I'll open a meeting to the public if anyone would like to come forward on this ordinance. this ordinance only of 5 minutes or duration to ask any questions or make comments. Okay, seeing no one, I'd like a motion to close this portion meeting.
>> Thank you, Council Amenity. >> Oh, Brian Tol and Councilman Steve Hun. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. At this time, I need a motion to adopt the ordinance. >> So, >> thank you, Council Member Tol. >> And thank you, Council Member Hund. Any
discussion or questions? >> Um, if I may, Mr. President, this issue and us creating a law was direct response to a resident that went to the senior's activities at our Brewer Municipal Complex and they were having a
problem, not just her, but other people going to these events and participating them. They were having a problem parking their car. They had a longer distance to walk. And these are older residents who might have a medical issue or health issue. And they asked, she asked me back
around Russian Easter, can you do something about it? And what we did is we took her request, brought it to the administration, and they went and they troubleshooted it with the police department and Ralph Bernardo because he controls most of the property over there. But it's very simple. A request
to accomplish a goal. The resident had a problem. the problems being addressed thanks to this administration and just by communicating having a conversation. Hi, I've got a problem. I need your help. Can you look into this? And this was done over Russian Orthodox Easter
celebration. But that's how it works by asking and getting things done properly, efficiently, and the way it's done in this town. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate my your my time. >> Thank you. Is anyone else? All right. Can I get a roll call, please?
>> Council member Hoff. Yes. >> Council member Hunt. >> Yes. >> Council member Maserella. >> Yes. >> Council member Minetti. >> Yes. >> Council member Okconor. >> Yes. >> Council member Tol. >> Yes. >> Council President Smith. >> Yes. >> Ordinance adopted. Ordinance 2625, an ordinance amending and supplementing
chapter 76 entitled alcoholic beverages of the code of the township of Clark by adding a new article six entitled public possession and consumption to prohibit the possession of open containers of alcoholic beverages and the consumption
of alcoholic beverages in public places. >> Thank you. At this time, I'll open up the hearing on this ordinance. If anyone would like to come forward, just state your name in town. and you'll have five minutes of duration to ask any questions or make comments. >> Good evening, John Gre from Clark. Um, I
just had a couple questions about the ordinance. Um, so I guess one of the first things would be uh the mayor said that there was some problems that we're having with open containers lately. I was just wondering if we could get some more specific information like is it
like 10 times as many people causing trouble or I don't know exactly basically it seems very vague as to the reasoning behind it. Um I'm not necessarily against an open container law. Um but I just was curious why now all of a sudden after not very specific
information this needs to happen. And I did have one other concern about one of the elements of um the way it was written. Um for exemption A, you're saying it's okay to um consume on private property, but there is an aspect
where it says not visible from orally affect a public space. So technically, I'm just a little worried and maybe you could clarify. Um what if you're on your porch having a drink? I live near the pond. Sometimes I sit in
the lawn chairs in my front yard. Occasionally we'll have a bottle of wine, me and my wife hanging out. You can easily see me from the public space and maybe someone, you know, people live on Valley, people live in a lot of places where people could see them sitting on their porch having a drink and that might end up um falling under
this ordinance and I was a little concerned about that. That's it. >> Thank you, Mr. Greavves. >> Anyone else like to come forward on this ordinance before I close the public hearing? I could get a motion to close the public hearing. >> Thank you, Council Member Tolk. Can I get a second? >> Second.
>> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. I need a motion to adopt the ordinance. >> I'll move it. >> Thank you, Council Member Maserell. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. All right. Any uh discussion or questions
for the BA or mayor? You have anything? >> Okay. I think it's self-explanatory. >> Okay. Very good. Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. Council member Hund, >> yes. >> Council member Maserella, >> yes.
>> Council member Maniti, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. >> Ordinance adopted. >> Can we move to introdu introduction of proposed ordinances? >> There are no introduction to >> payment of claims. Councilman Okconor.
>> Thank you. I reviewed the current and capital expenditures received and encumbered through July 21st, 2026 in the amount of $150,9921 and recommend the council approved the resolution authorizing the bill list on the consent agenda. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. At this time, we're going to move to the citizens hearing on
the agenda. I'll open the meeting to the public. Public comment portion of the meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with NJSA104-12A in the code of the township of clerk. Each person addressing the council shall
give their name and address uh I'm sorry, name and town in which they reside to the clerk. All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed five minutes in duration. At the conclusion of statements or questions from a member of the public, the council president at his or her discretion may choose to respond
or not respond. So if you want to come up on any of the agenda items, please do so at this time. >> Okay, seeing no one, I like a motion to close this portion. >> I'll move. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Can I get a second? >> Thank you, Council Member Maniti. All in favor?
>> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. the uh consent agenda. The mayor summarized them all for us. I think you could bring it up for a motion to adopt the consent agenda. >> Thank you, Council Member Men. I get a second.
>> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Oh, did we have to read the statement, Madam Clerk? >> Yes. >> Okay. Sorry about that. Read that and then we'll >> The following resolutions numbers 261 191 through 26198 are considered routine
and non-controversial items by the township council and will be enacted upon one motion. There will be no separate vote on these items unless a council member so requests in which the event in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda to be discussed and voted on following the
approval of the remaining items listed on the consent agenda. >> Okay, thank you. So the motion to adopt was council member Maniti and second was council member Maserella. Roll call please. >> Council member Hoff. >> Yes. >> Council member Hund. >> Yes. >> Council member Maserella. >> Yes.
>> Council member Maniti. >> Yes. >> Council member Okconor. >> Yes. >> Council member Tol. >> Yes. >> Council President Smith. >> Yes. >> Resolutions are adopted. >> Thank you. Any new business on the calendar? >> There's no new business on the calendar. >> All right. Now we'll move on to public comments. I'll open the meeting to the
public. The public comment portion of the meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with NJSA10 col4-12A and the code of the township of Clark. Each person addressing the council shall give their name and the town in which they reside to the clerk.
All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed 5 minutes in duration. At the conclusion of statements or questions from member of the public, the council president at his her discretion may choose to respond or not respond. So anyone like to come
forward, please do so. John Gre again from Clark. Um, I kind of wanted to just quickly express my disappointment to the response about the Oprah requests that I I mentioned last last um meeting. Um, it
seems that not every single person but um a number of the people here are very still hostile towards the idea of uh the public having access to information. they come up with things that I'm doing wrong like asking for minutes of
meetings and things like that which are not publicly available. If you go to the website they're not there so I'm asking for them. Um and you know one of the questions is is what am I doing with all this information? Why am I doing this? Well um I guess today I'll tell you um
what I am doing is I'm compiling it and making it publicly available like it should be. So, um, if someone goes and sees the budget, it's hard for the average person to read. It's hard person to see what's going on with, um, our
town over the years. Um, I was able to put together, um, basically charts and graphs and, um, basically make it a lot easier for people to see where our town tax dollars go and what our our um, our council is doing. Um, so if you want to
see what I'm doing, you can go to strongerclark.com/data and there's a bunch of um, data there that shows you the budgets and um, people's share of taxes. It gives you information about pilots and I think that's information that really should just be on the town website. Um, so I
know that there's been some worries about how much this has cost um, to just have the data available. Um, but I think at the end of the day, it actually saves money because I've done some of the work that probably should have been done by the by the town and put it on. Um, and
the problem with Oprah's though is that you can't actually ask a question. All you can do is ask for a document. Um, and there's some questions that people have. Um, and some of the data that I found answers some of the questions, I think. Um, but there's been a couple
questions like, um, one, uh, last month there was a picture put on the Clark neighbors of a Clark Fire Department vehicle that was brought to, um, ship bottom, it seemed. Um, we never really got any information as to why that happened and what happened. Only Oprah
requests were able to find out that there was no fire department trainings there. Um, I'd really like to know if we could find out what's going on with that because, you know, we just recently lost their mayor because of misuse of public um, property. Uh, it doesn't seem like it
made sense that that was 90 minutes away from Clark. Um, another question I think a lot of people have had, and I was wondering if you could help um, confirm this, um, is, you know, we've had some legal troubles and things have cost a lot of money because of it. Um, where
did we get all that money to fill that gap? Um, looking at the tax appeal stuff, I I from what I could tell, it seems that the sewer utility is being used like the
excess of the sewer utility is actually being moved into the town budget. Um, about $700,000 over the last every year for the last five years. And this current year it was about 925,000. And I also found that um in 2016 when
the gypsum factory filed a tax appeal that was very high um guys didn't really raise taxes that year but you raised the sewer utility and you it seems that the sewer utility excess was then moved over and that seemed to cover the gap. So, I guess the
question is is the sewer utility being used to sort of make it seem like taxes aren't going up, but people are paying money that they might not otherwise have to cuz also it seems that the money that the town actually has to pay to the sewer utility has actually stayed steady
or gone down while the amount that people are paying has gone up. Um, so those are the two questions I would really like an answer to if we could. Um, I did the best I could from the Opas that I I got with the information I had. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Grez.
>> Good evening, Dia Collins, Clark. Um, I have a question, a general question regarding grants. It seems that every time we get a grant, it comes from Union County. What I'm trying to find out, can Clark, it's a township submit a
grant to either a private grant maker such as a corporation or an individual? Are we barred from pursuing a private grant? Um, and if we are not barred, who would be
responsible to pursue a grant like that? and can a private citizen search for a grant that may come back to the town township for a specific cause? Thank you.
>> Thank you, Miss Collins. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Mike Decker and I live on Prescott Turn. Um, I can't speak for everyone that reached out to me or from all the feedback I saw online, but I can tell you uh why the
recently proposed curfew ordinance was so concerning to me. And it wasn't even the curfew issue itself. It was a kind of the process around it with regards to transparency. And I think that gets to the heart of why I have gotten involved lately in our
local politics. You know, public service is hard and I appreciate that each of you has stepped up to do this job and I know it's not for the money or the glory. We all know there's no none of that to be found in these roles.
I understand the challenges you face because I have spent the last 20 years of my life in public service myself. And it's impossible to do what we do day in and day out and never make a mistake. It's going to happen.
The question is, what do you do next? When a mistake happens, you own it. You correct it. You learn from it. And you get better. You move forward. Except I haven't seen that here in Clark. And in the 10 years I've lived
here, I've watched scandal after scandal unfold. some really troubling stuff. And yet, nobody takes ownership. Nobody says, "Hey, I screwed up. It's my fault. I apologize. Here's how we're going to fix it. These are the steps we're putting in place so that this doesn't
happen again." Instead, the public tends to just get fingerpointing or gaslighting or sometimes just straight up silence. I mean, you just look at the response to this recent curfew issue. Instead of reflecting on community
concerns, we put out a press release just talks about, oh, the the crowd size wasn't that big or there's only a couple people that were complaining and that's unacceptable. There were a lot of people that were upset. Public service, it's a sacred trust. It
should be hard. It is hard. And it's occasionally going to result in some honest mistakes. Fair enough. But those mistakes must be followed by transparent efforts to do better next time. How can we ever get better if no one can ever admit when they make a mistake?
Thank you for your attention. >> Thank you, Mr. Decker. >> Uh good evening, council. Glenn Fogerty, uh Goodman's Crossing, Lake Avenue, Clark, New Jersey. Madame Mayor, business manager, Mr. Wright, um first
of all, uh before I talk on some other issues, uh which pertain to the last meeting, I want to thank the Clark PD for increased presence on Lake Avenue, particularly by Schwin Drive. Uh, I've mentioned this before that the speed limit from Martina Avenue goes from 45
down to 25, but people continue to drive at 45 and blow through the red light. Uh, I've nearly been whacked a couple of times myself, so I'm very glad to see that. Uh, as usual, I back the blue and
it's not just because I'm wearing all blue tonight, but that's symbolic. Um, so I want to thank them for doing that. And I I think, you know, stopping speeders, whether they're blue people, purple people, green people, is the law.
It's for public safety. It's for public safety of drivers. It's not, as Mr. Schman continued to imply and defame our police officers who are far more diverse culturally and racially than his
stronger Clark group are. That they are profiling. You know what the profiling is? When you're speeding, when you're 10 miles, 20 m above the limit. That's the profiling. You broke the law. If I did it, I should be pulled over. Anyone
should be pulled over because it's a matter of public safety. There are a lot of crazy drivers there and other places going to God knows where, St. George Avenue, going to the Parkway. You know, they're rushing to the shore. They have
far more important things to do than the rest of us. Um, I'd also like to greet Mr. Gri or Mr. Jib, our perennial Stronger Clark candidate. Um, oh, I guess he's not here again. Surprise, surprise, surprise. Um, I also want to talk about Mr.
Greavves um with what I consider to be an abuse of the Oprah process, open public records act. To me, this is just cynical political theater on his part by
which he says, "I filed all of these and you're not paying sufficient attention to me." Um, he's not an accountant. He's not a financial analyst. So where he thinks he has the qualifications to do all of this
compilation, he's not a CPA. I doubt he knows of debit from a credit. I do. I've spent 30 years in finance and audit and fraud auditing for government as well. To me, it strikes me with his 37 requests, as Madame Mayor said, and
there's maybe more with these ones that are addressed as uh sent by yours truly. Excuse me. Who are they from? Um, I wish it were possible to quantify these man-hour times the number of requests to
see how much in terms of tax dollars Mr. Graves hobby is costing this town with this non-stop flurry of Oprah requests. My advice to him is act like a man. The rumor is he
works from home or doesn't work at all. Has a rich wife. Get a job. Be like the rest of us. Man up. Get a job. Mr. Greavves. Maybe you do have a job. I don't know. But it seems like you have a lot of spare time on your hands to defame this
town and defame our council who spent a lot more time working for this town than you do. As for another person who claimed to lecture people about decorum in the last meeting, I'm not going to name him. He says, "I'm a lawyer." you
know, well, we knew that cuz that's all he ever talks about. Furthermore, if I went to the Turo College of Law, which is one of the worst law schools in America, I'm not sure I would be bragging about that. When I clerked in
Essex County, I saw people like him. I went to a far better law school than he is. And I'm grateful that I saw people like him because then I decided to go into insurance and not the practice of law because I was disgusted by what I saw. And I am constantly disgusted by
his behavior. >> 30 seconds. >> From the moment he got to this town, all he does is defame this town. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Mr. Fogerty. Right. Seeing no one else like a motion to
close this portion. >> Thank you, Council Member Tolk. Can I get a second? >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. Uh, you want to answer any of the questions? Uh, Mayor Albanesey's
or business administrator? >> Yes. I'll I'll start and then you can pick up after Jim. um the points that John Greavves made uh some of these statements
um he wants to create transparency in the township that people want this data um and then he said it probably should have been done by the town certain disclosures should have been made. Um,
the local finance board covers part of what should be disclosed on township websites. Some townships don't have a website and in those towns they're required to post on a state website. Some towns, they just can't afford it.
And I guess they're trying to find a balance of how what is a reasonable amount of data that could be posted. Um, in the town where I work, if if it's up there, I never take it down. I just leave it there. But we comply with the laws of the state because all these
things, all this information you want to stay on there, it costs money. So, we have to leave it up to the local finance board, the division of local government services, and the state statutes, and we comply with state statutes. You may like
additional data. Um, you can come up with whatever you want to post on a website. That's fine. But I'm just telling you the reality is and I I I feel that strong desire you have to be in government and this is your way of doing it. You're setting up your own little
um cogle of uh information that you're putting on your website that you think people want to know about. And I'm not saying it's not val a valid question, not valid point. you have all your valid points and all your questions, but I
don't hear these questions from most of the people in the town. Um, we are audited by the state. We're audited by independent public auditors as required by the state and we are complying with all those laws.
Um, you talked about allocations from one fund to another. Um we do not we're not of the size township where and this is related to the sewer utility. We don't have a separate sewer utility staff that
just does that. Um so we allocate costs for their labor for their benefits to these um to the utility. And that is it's as simple as that. I
work in a town with 50,000 people, $91,000 million budget just for the current fund, not counting all the utilities they have. They have most utilities in the state of New Jersey. And we still have to allocate all the overheads that go to it, whether it's
the mayor, the business administrator, the clerk, tax assessor, tax collector, etc. The IT department, they serve all these departments, all the functions in the township. And those costs get allocated out on a reasonable method.
And it's as simple as that. Is it exact? No. But it's a reasonable methodology that's applied consistently. And that is what we're doing. We're allocating in an appropriate manner. Let's see.
I think that pretty much covered most of what you were covering. I think I think the the point about the Opras, you know, what's disappointing is sometimes you're asking for minutes that go back I don't know how many years, Jim, do you know?
>> 2015 it was 66 different meeting minutes. >> 11 years, 66 different meeting minutes. Um I don't know if there was some event that occurred. I do recall before I was elected in office, we did have a meeting
on the master plan and 700 people from the town showed up. They were very unhappy with the Democrats and what they were doing with that master plan. That's coming out and speaking up. Um when we had the reservoir meeting, we
had the county come in. Yes, the room was packed. When we were when we had grants for the library, there was standing room only in the room. Unfortunately, we lost that grant because the former mayor told those two
council people to vote against it and we didn't have the super majority that we needed. We lost what? $1.7 million in grants. 750 for the elevator and about a million for the state that we worked a year on that they all agreed that they would go
ahead with but they didn't. But that at that meeting one woman came up at the very end and said you know I was against this library but now that I've heard everyone talk about it I'm for it. And there were people who founded the library who were there who had the
little library where the post office is. That's how it all started. So that's that's getting people out there. That's when people are concerned. I think that covers pretty much what I wanted to say about
um the questions that you had. Okay. I guess Die was next. Grants for Union County. Uh we do have some federal grants. Uh those are block grants, but it's administered by the county. So, we do get those grants. Um, we get some
state grants, body armor for our police, that's a state grant. We get uh clean communities money, that's a state grant. We get um recycling grant, that's a state grant as well. And we do apply for
federal grants as well. And we'll we'll talk about that more at a future date. Um, if you can find a grant for animals or whatever topic you like and you want to give money to the town, you can do that.
But, um, I hope that answers your questions. If not, you can always see me. >> Yep. Go ahead. >> So, if you want, send me the grant information that you're looking for and I could confirm if we can apply for it. >> Thank you.
Okay. Um, Mr. Decker, um, you talked about the curfew ordinance and your concern for transparency. Um, I gave some examples about the room being packed. It was a little odd to me
that like in 18 hours after the meeting that news reel appeared and it's kind of like it was pre-programmed, somebody expected something to happen that night and we were going to say something against it and then it never happened. and a little pin was put in the balloon
and all the air went out. I felt that it was totally misleading to say that this was a packed house. I'm telling you, when it's packed, you'll know it. There'll be standing room only. And that was not the that was not a true representation of what happened.
Scandal after scandal after scandal unfold. Going to have to enlighten me on scandal after scandal after scandal. Um, I think that was it. If I missed anything, um, let me know. Did you want
to add anything on to the questions? Okay. I did want to mention, um, a point that came up at the last meeting regarding how tax appeals are handled. And there's a big misconception
amongst people including our tax assessor that the municipality gets back the county portion of an appeal and it doesn't. Okay. What happens is
taxes that are charged to a township from the county. The county has 16 towns in Union County. They take the net valuation taxable for all the towns and they allocate that money, the taxes they're going to charge
to each town based on the net value of the town. When we have a tax appeal, the value of the town goes down. And instead of allocating, let's say we were at 10%, now next year, because that tax value goes down, it
goes down to 9%. Yes, we're paying less. Maybe it's rough numbers. Let's say 50,000 less that the town pays, but the tax appeal may have been 600,000. So, as time goes on, if the value stays
the same, I guess they get 50,000. And not only do we um get the benefit of 50 benefit of 50,000 less um the other towns are paying the county more because now their value of their land
um in that community went up. So there is no accounts receivable that's recorded when we pay a tax appeal that is on our books that is paid by the county. Um, I can discuss this further with you
offline, but I would suggest that you contact the county tax administrator, Christopher Dury. Uh, he manages the county board of taxation and I have his phone number 908-5274775 and I have his email, etc., and suggest
that you discuss it with him so that we're clear that the understanding of what Mike Ross explained is not exactly correct. We do not get money back from the county. We get the
um lower aggregate tax value allocation over years to come. >> Did you want to add to that? >> Well, I didn't want to add to that. I was just going through my notes and there was one additional thing that we uh missed. Mr. Decker said that there
was a mistake with the ordinance. There was no mistake with the ordinance. Okay. the ordinance as we've discussed, you know, we used to have the workshop meeting where we discussed, you know, the ordinances. We don't have that workshop meeting. Um, and this was going
to be the forum to discuss it. The council when they received their packages like they would have done in a normal workshop meeting decided that they weren't, you know, comfortable moving forward at that point. And that's when it was tabled. It's tabled. It's not coming back. you know, it's, you
know, if even if we, you know, voted it down, that doesn't mean it could, it can't come back the next meeting. So, it gets back to the point that there was no mistake. The ordinance was put together by our attorney who was a qualified
attorney based on state law. And, you know, it's something that needs to be addressed because there was no mistake. I want to make that 100% clear. It wasn't dropped because of mistake. It was dropped because the council at that point is and I don't want to put words
in your mouth but you guys could you you told me was not comfortable moving forward because of the extent of the issue even though there was you know give or take you know between March and July 95 different instances
you know you still felt that there was overkill for that type of situation which is well within your right but again I'm going to repeat it the last time there was No mistake, the ordinance was legal and it was put together by our attorney. That's the end of the um comments.
>> Thanks for the question. >> Thank you. I I didn't pick up on that uh meaning a mistake in the ordinance. Um so I do want to mention that um on August 4th, which is this Thursday, we're going to have the Touch a Truck
event um right outside here. Correct. Or is it going to be over at um National Night Out. Um, not touch truck. Thank you. National Night Out. Um, sorry about that. Yes, National Night Out. Um, but there will be equipment there now.
Okay. So, um, hopefully you'll can attend that. Um, yeah. So, that's Wednesday. Very good. And that's all I have. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff.
Um, thank you. I'd like to uh just a little bit reiterate some of the mayor's comments because there were a couple comments tonight um from in the public where it felt like there was like lecturing about rooms that quite frankly people aren't in um speaking recklessly or picking at scabs. I just I don't
understand. Um also regarding things being accused of being a mistake. If nothing happened, I don't understand how it's a mistake. Um, and but I do understand sometimes that there's public comments that something doesn't make sense. And it's it's easy as the new as like the most recent um person elected
up here that I could recall that it's tough to figure out. And it took and it takes a while. It's a ton of effort and education and research and everything to figure out how government works. And sometimes I feel like when I ran for the board of education a couple decades ago and I wanted to like get rid of
homework like a middle school student council kind of thing. you realize just some things in government work a certain way and just because you don't understand it doesn't make it not true. Um but at the same time um is it even in
election season if there aren't little digs and accusations and insinuations that happen and and occur and at some point I do just want to say that questions absolutely deserve answers but at the same time answers deserve acknowledgement unless it's performative. You would think that you
would be pleased when you get answers to things. So, in light of all of this, um, totally didn't talk to anyone about this in advance. Hopefully, it's okay. Um, but I printed this out. Um, um, this came out this week, uh, every taxpayer
in town got Am I holding it up? It came out, um, in this newsletter. This is the organic source, and I just think it was so fantastic. It says, um, how to never say, "I don't know something." So, it's your Clark connection checklist. So, it has the bookmark Township of the website
on your browser. Check that off. You can download the Clark resident guide. Sign up for Township news flashes. You can follow the Township of Clark on Instagram and Facebook. Register your home alarm with the Clark PD. Visit the registration catalog of classes. Follow our Clark Media on YouTube. Sign up for
Police Nixel alerts. The reality is this township provides information between social postings, YouTube website, on paper, texts out to people, emails out to people. Um, we meet as far as I can think of the citizens everywhere that
they are. If there is some place that info isn't being covered, I'm sure all of us would love to hear it because we're happy and encourage the sharing of information. Um, and you know, again, this was emailed out in the newsletter.
Everyone got it. Um, uh, it went to every taxpayer in town. So, I encourage you to look at it because if you know me at all, or you read anything I've ever written, I'm a big fan of the organic source. Going to the factual information, either the people, the places, or the um, elected officials or
administration that actually has the answers is the best way to get um, answers to your question. So, um, thank you to who, um, or the team that put this together. I'm sure, um, it was a few people, so I really appreciate it. I got a couple text messages about it
saying, "This was so helpful and I love this." So, um, thank you and I appreciate it. And, um, that's all I got today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Hund. >> Yes. Thank you. Just to offer, uh, some more. I know the business administrator
and councilwoman Huff mentioned it about um the curfew, but I'm I'm my con I think that's been spoken to enough there, but mine is about the transparency issue. You're saying we're not transparent. However, there's numerous
postings from an organization, and I'll just use this posting here stating as the mayor said, this was a packed room. I was not in attendance that night. So I watched it when I came back into town from my business meeting and I watched three people
three people in a pack in a packed room. That is not a packed room. The three people I believe all come from the Democratic side that wanted to speak to something that was tabled. So transparency, you're putting it out there saying you're the go-to source for
the town to come to. I don't believe that's so the go-to source is Clark, not the party. So, you talk about transparency, that was the most intransparent or non-transparent posting I've seen in
a long time out of you. Not you, Mr. Decker, but out of the site. So, let's look in the mirror a little bit. You say, "We're not transparent. We're pretty transparent." Most of your posts tend to be non-transparent, making it
look like we're bad, trying to say, "Look at how Councilman Hun did this, or he didn't tie your shoes properly when he walked into the meeting tonight." O, that's something I can dig out on. Transparency is truth. Three people coming to the mic to talk about something that was that was tabled is
not a full room and that was put out there by you guys. So, that's all I have to say. Transparency can go both ways and it should be transparent. Thank you, >> Councilman Mezerella. >> Yes. Thank you, Council President. Yes.
Um, as I've said every meeting, please be safe. Um, if you need um the police assistance, fire or EMS, call our police department. They'll respond to attend to your needs and ensure your safety. One
last item. I have been contacted uh by a number of residents about excessive speeding in the area. And I'm going to say again um as I told the residents, we pretty much all have um
cell phones and and those cell phones have the capabilities of taking a picture. And I advise the residents, if you see speeding, if you see somebody, grab your cell phone, take a picture of the car, take a picture of the tag, call our
police department, they'll investigate it. So, a little bit of help on the residents parts will go a long way as well. Yes, we all want to respond. We all want to protect you. We all want to
make it as safe as possible, but we need your help as well. Um, so again, if you um do see someone speeding, take a picture of the car, take a picture of the tag, call our police department. They'll respond,
they'll look at it, they'll investigate it. So, um, that's all I have to say this evening. So, until next, uh, in two weeks, be well, and stay safe. Good night. >> Thank you, Council Member Minity. >> Thank you, Council President. Um, I'm
just going to address uh M Mr. Decker's comments if I can. Um, you know, the last meeting we uh, you know, tabled an agenda item and, uh, I hear a lot about not being transparent and again, I brought it up and, uh, you know, tried to explain, you know, how I look at
ordinances and seeing if they make sense or, you know, uh, again, I'll reiterate, I always look for a reason to say no. But, um, something that really caught my attention is as a public servant, I think you're a police officer. um coming to the microphone and instead of accusing us of not being transparent,
maybe tell us how you feel about if there should be a curfew or not. I mean, as a public, I'd love to hear it. Um I'm not sure if you're for or against curfews. Um you know, and I don't know how that protects or doesn't protect the people of Clark. Um and again, when it
doesn't make sense to me, I say no. Um one of the things is is that I'm a firm believer in this new ordinance with these ebikes. I'm hoping that these ebikes uh uh would help us in these parking lots and target parking lots and commons where these kids aren't going to
be going in and out of parked cars and stopping. Um but one thing I saw on Facebook the other day is an ebike going down I think it was Madison Hill Road >> in where was it? >> Madison Road. >> Madison Hall Road. Right. >> On a curve. >> Yeah, right on a curve. and uh in front
of a car um and actually made a U-turn and gave the driver of the car, you know, the finger. And all I could say about that is, you know, just watch our children with these ebikes, making sure that they're safe. Um but, you know, again, coming to the microphone and telling us that we're not being
transparent, I think is definitely, you know, not fair. Um and I'd like to hear more about your opinion on things, I think it's important. Uh, with that, I have uh no other comments, but um thank you for your time. >> Councilman Okconor. >> Thank you very much. I think uh Councilwoman Hoff hit it on the head.
She said this is election season. After today's meeting is only five more meetings before the election, so it's time to come out and try to make your final pitch to try to get elected. And that's exactly what we're seeing here tonight. words like transparency, mistake, scandal, gaslighting. These are
all buzzwords to get people's attention, right? That's that's what these words are. Um, you know, the council did their job. No one came up to the microphone to say, "Hey, the council did their job. Something was proposed. They didn't like it and they took it off the agenda." We've been accused of not doing our job
for the past five years. Here's a perfect example where we've done our job. They've acknowledged it, but again, it's easier to talk about something else, right? The council did our job. Councilman Medi did an excellent job of explaining how he looks at the
ordinances, and I'm sure that's how I do as well. I don't want to speak for the rest of the council, but I'm sure that's what they do as well. Um with regard to uh what the mayor had said regarding you know our reporting
practices, we follow the law. Again, this is a subliminal message from the Democrats that hey, we heard transparency, mistakes, scandal, gaslighting, filtered
in with a little bit of hey, you know what? Let's let's put in there. Maybe they don't give us all the information they they they're supposed to, but again, state audit, independent audit, we put at things out there that are
required by law. Are we a multi-billion dollar town? No. So, there are budget constraints as to things we can do, but again, you could ask for them. Now, Mr. Greavves, he wanted to make what? Government bigger. Let's hire more people to answer questions that are so
trivial that I don't know what type of questions in the past have we gotten similar to the ones Mr. Greavves asked about 10 years worth of this or 10 years of this Oprah request. Have we ever had that before? No. Never. Right? So, you know, we don't need to make the
government bigger. Right? We don't need to hire people just to sit there and say, "Hey, wait a minute. In case someone asks this, we need somebody there to make sure that we have the ability to answer their question. Now, we have Oprah requests. The mayor has said many times, Jim has said many
times, our BA, if you have a question, call us, right? We all have our phone numbers out there. We all have our email addresses out there. Feel free to reach out to us as well. It is election season and it has begun.
So again, we are aware of what happens in this town. Everything we do is by the book. So that concludes my comments for this evening. >> Council member Tol. >> Thank you, Mr. President. We are only
human. That's what we are. We're here on this planet Earth. It goes around the solar system and we're human. Mistakes, yeah, things happen and they're amplified here because it's the theater of politics. It's sad. But the issue very simple, the best way to correct or
prevent errors, errors or mistakes is by full commitment to a project, full communication, and then the I call the three C's and then full compromise on the issue. Working with your fellow colleagues to make the issue or the
project work. If we remember I started just saying this before. If we communicate your needs, we can make a better town. If we communicate your desires, we can make a better town. It's not what I want. It's what you want. I'm
here to serve you. You're my boss. Some people might not like it. Some people might think other things. That's your call. But it's you, the voter, who will then make that decision what how you want the direction. What are we talking about? Negative. Are we going to talk about positive? transparency or full
communication of the issues. What are we going to be talking about? I say we should be doing one simple thing. Making a better Clark, coming up with the ideas to make a better Clark, coming up with reality that works to make a better town issue that I wanted to talk about
because I was livid. We had our meeting the last time was about two weeks ago and the next night we had a tornado hit the state of New Jersey and News 12 hits does this hit piece. News12. I never really watched News12 and I don't really get upset with the television, but this
upset me because News12, which is owned by Optimum, Comcast Infinity, which is democratically controlled, but I don't get into politics. What I'm saying to you is folks, they ran a hit piece on the Township of Clark and our curfew, and it was nothing but a lying
sack of nonsense. They lying sack of nonsense. Now, if you're a involved with the local party in the township of Clark and you support that, then you've got a problem because you're working with lies. And I mean
lies. They ran a piece where you have tornadoes dropping down in Morristown, Morris County, where people's lives were in jeopardy and they're running a hit piece on Clark. What the hell is that about? And Chris Keading, you should be ashamed of yourself and you should be out of the business. He's the MC going,
"Well, Clark, really, they're trying to hurt a curfew." And then it was the three individuals who were being profiled. That's okay that you want to edit it, you edit it your way, but it's fair. 50/50 your side, that's the way. That's where the transparency, that's where communication comes in. Not just,
oh, they're they're bad. They're they're doing curfew. They're doing curfews. It never made never made daylight. And it was a dumbass idea. Excuse my language, but it's the truth. It was a dumb idea, but dumb ideas got communicated and they got put away. We're going to work to
make a better town and the police and this administration. We're going to come up with a better idea to take care of the needs. What I was just saying to Councilman Matti is there's a thing on YouTube where you have a kid riding an ebike. He was doing a wheelie down
Madison Hill Road over the bridge, the Falls Bridge, and he's going up into the res uh towards the Madison Hill Road curve near St. Mary's Cemetery. This kid's doing a wheelie and he's got a car behind him and the guy was filming this kid doing his wheelie down mass in the road in the center lane, not on one
lane. He was in the center of the road and he turns into Beachwood Road next to St. Mary's Cemetery does a Uturn and comes around and gives the driver who was filming him the finger. Nice kid. Too bad that that wasn't submitted to the police and then the police could go catch him because he's going to kill himself or he's going to hurt somebody
else. If we communicate the issue that we saw and we bring it to the proper authorities and we come up with a solution for something stupid as that. But kids do stupid things. Adults do stupid things in this town also.
So I'm going to finish out with this. Those we've lost in the last month. Barbara Bodner. Mrs. Bodner was a longtime resident of the township of Clark. She was married to John Bodner Jr. and she was the mother of John
Bodner III, the only father and son combination. Fourth W councilman, then he was first W councilman. But the Bodners were involved with the township of Clark in the 1970s, early 80s. They gave a lot of their time and efforts to the community to make the community grow. They knew how to communicate
because they always would tell you if there was a problem with you or a problem with the town, they'd let you know. I ran to John today. It was an honor to see him. I haven't seen him in since 2019 when his father passed. But I went and I saw John and I hadn't talked to him in a long time and it was it was
nice to refresh old memories from the township of Clark and we brought up politics in the 80s and how really it hasn't changed that much. The names have changed, the faces have changed or they passed away. But it's the township of Clark doesn't change that much unfortunately. We try to make it change.
If we try to do better, and we will, and we are only human, and we can do better. And that's the one thing I want to say to everybody. We can do better if we try. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate your time. I wish everyone enjoy the end of summer. Please be careful with the kids out there on the
bicycles. They're all over the place. Hey, I did the same thing when I was that age, but just be careful, be cautious. Thank you. And be safe. Call us if you need anything. We're here for you. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Stalwick, you have anything you want to add? I think mayor, you have something you want to add?
>> Yes. After hearing all the comments about the political season and curfews and transparency, I wanted to mention, as I said in my comments, it seemed odd to me that they had those news clips of the Democrats so quickly the next day.
And not one person was here from the press to ask me or members of this council what they thought about it, why it was uh, you know, tabled. No comments at all. Nothing from the township. Seems
a little bit odd. Try to be transparent. I hope the people, the citizens from Clark realize what's going on here. You talk about people who aren't transparent, but really it's because you're not transparent. That's what it comes down to.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Do you have anything to add? >> Nothing. >> Councelor, you have anything to add? >> Um, with your permission, council president, I would like to address one question that was raised by the public regarding the consumption of alcoholic beverages in public places. Um, section
76-28A of that ordinance specifically provides possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages upon private property with the permission of the owner or lawful occupant thereof and the conduct is not
visible from and does not directly and materially affect the public place. The emphasis of the question was is not visible from uh it omits the remainder of that exception which is does not
directly and materially affect the public place. The focus of this ordinance is public consumption. Um so the the ordinance has to be read in totality. Um the second point is one that's already been addressed in various
places with respect to that transparency of the uh draft um curfew ordinance. Uh the procedure to adopt an ordinance not just that ordinance but any ordinance has several steps. The first step it
must be introduced by the council. Then public notice of a public hearing on the ordinance is given. A public hearing is held on the ordinance and after the public hearing the council considers the ordinance for adoption or rejection.
Uh during this process the ordinance may be removed from the agenda, may be changed, modified or revised revised after introduction. In this case the draft curfew ordinance did not proceed past the first step introduction. This
was all done in public session. There can be nothing more transparent than acting in public session with an explanation of why things are are being done. The draft curfew ordinance was
authorized by state law. NJSA48-2 grants municipalities the police power. More specifically, a subsection of that 40 col48-2- 48-2.52 specifically authorizes curfew
ordinances and establish establishes the parameters for curfew ordinances. In the first four whereases of the draft ordinance, both of these laws were cited. Uh these laws were adopted by the New Jersey legislature
uh and which found that there is a need for curfew ordinances and the New Jersey government are concurred with that finding. The curfew law has been in effect since 20 since 1992 last revised in 2005. This law does not impose statewide
curfews leaving that decision to municipalities. Many municipalities throughout the state have curfew ordinances including Newton and Sussex County here in Union County, Planefield and Rawway and numerous
municipalities in Mammoth, Atlantic, Ocean and Cape May counties. Um what guides the preparation of an ordinance, applicable state law, other municipal ordinances and experience all serve to
inform the preparation of an ordinance. As stated, the law prescribes the procedure to follow to introduce an ordinance, provide for notice, provide for a public hearing after introduction, provide for amendments or revisions to
the ordinance. Uh, and it is intended to be a process that is interactive with the public because of the public comment period that is afforded not only this draft curfew ordinance, but all ordinances. Uh, as has already been stated several
times, in this case, the curfew ordinance was not introduced by the council and there was nothing before the council to consider on July 2026 and there was nothing before the council to date to to de today to debate or act
upon. Um, I just wanted to add those additional comments um because I I uh think that there's a a misunderstanding of what the process is and this process is all required by law. You and you
follow it with respect to each and every ordinance that this body considers. Uh thank you Mr. Council President. >> Thank you for that detailed explanation. Appreciate it. Um I have no further comments. So at this time I'd like a motion to adjurnn. >> A move.
>> Thank you council member Tol. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you council member Mani. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. See you in a couple weeks. I know I don't do the I got enough trouble.